Talk:ButThatsNoneOfMyBusiness/@comment-5261392-20160109183336
Last night, I wrote my Leyton appreciation post, which can be found here. Today, I'm going to write an essay on why I love Peyton Sawyer to bits and pieces and all of the reasons why I consider her my favorite character on One Tree Hill. Since she's such a complex and multi faceted character, I'm going to be writing a season by season analysis, so this post will be rather long. xD Spoilers ahead for Seasons 1-6 of OTH, so just be aware if you haven't seen them and don't want to be spoiled. ~♥~ Overview Long before starting One Tree Hill, I just had a feeling that I was going to love Peyton Sawyer. I knew there was a good chance that she would ultimately become my favorite character of the series, which is a generally unpopular opinion. Many people compared me to her, and that was enough to spark an interest. From what I had gathered from character testimonials, gif sets, and edits, she seemed like a character that I would find extremely relatable. Just from off the bat, her quotes, personality traits, and experiences highly resonated with me. In addition, she seemed complex, emotional, flawed, raw; yet strong, intelligent, caring, and well developed. All of that ended up to be true, for me. From the gate, Peyton Sawyer stole my heart and I continued to love her throughout every season of the series, until her departure from the show. I can only hope that this essay will do justice to explain my love for my OTH queens, and one of my ultimate fictional queens overall. Season 1 Many people considered Peyton to be at her worst in the first season, but I personally loved her from the very first episode. From the bat, I could see that she was in pain. She was lonely, miserable, and just wanted to find her place in the world. She had lost her mother at a young age, and that will damage anyone psychologically. Her father was hardly around. Her boyfriend, while I did love him from the start due to how complex he was and how much potential he held, was a big bag of dicks. She saw her best friend and the guy she actually wanted to be with, Lucas, be together and that hurt so much, especially because Brooke knew how much Peyton liked him. From the beginning, I instantly resonated with Peyton's character. I could relate to her pain, her loneliness, and her fear of people leaving her. One thing I loved was how despite all that, she was extremely passionate about her artwork. She stood her ground and marched to the beat of her own drum. "This is who I, this is how I am" is a quote that sums Peyton up pretty well - she is strong, independent, and values her autonomy to the point where she doesn't like labels. She is unapologetic about who she is and what she believes in, and I think that's really admirable. Now, it's difficult to address Peyton in Season 1 without mentioning the Brooke/Lucas/Peyton love triangle and how essentially, Peyton really hurt Brooke by making out with Lucas behind her back. I'm not excusing that, because that was a real backstabbing move. However, it's important to consider the factors - the first time they hooked up, Peyton was extremely emotional and vulnerable and she was with Lucas all alone on a road trip. It's understandable how one thing led to another and they ended up kissing. As far as the other times, I'm not condoning it at all, but almost every time they kissed, she wanted it to stop. She felt guilty and she was usually in an emotional, irrational place where she couldn't think properly. Not to mention, she was 16 at the time and the fact that some fans hate her for kissing Lucas while he was with Brooke, yet they still worship Lucas, is really disgusting. She's apologized and owned up for her mistakes, not to mention she has matured and ended up being a great friend to Brooke in the later seasons. Season 2 Even though I genuinely loved Peyton in Season 1, I loved her so much more this season. She had proven to be a deeply complex, complicated character. She had shown a kinder, softer side who genuinely loves and values her friends, boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter. However, she still remained true to her tough, badass personality. When Felix wrote "d*ke" on her locker, she spoke up. She refused to be a victim of a hate crime. Although she is not LGBT, she acknowledged that LGBT people do not deserve to suffer in silence. She stood up, not only for herself, but Anna and everyone else who was part of the LGBT+ community. She showed compassion and kindness towards Anna, even when Anna was too afraid to be friends with her because of the rumors. She stood up to Principal Turner and let her thoughts, feelings, and opinions be known. She ended up getting suspended, but that was fine because at the very least, she had taken a stand and gave a voice to those who were too scared and threatened to speak. Season 3 This season just proves how much strength and integrity Peyton had. Although she was originally upset with Ellie because she had abandoned her (and Peyton, as we know, has abandonment issues and is afraid of people always leaving her), but ultimately, she was able to open up her heart and mind to her biological mother. They bonded over their love of music and Peyton had made Ellie's last days memorable. They even worked together to make a "Friends with Benefit" album, where a portion of the proceeds went to breast cancer research. She used the pain over losing her mom (for the second time) to prevent the deaths of other people's loved ones, and I think that's beautiful. She also had some other great moments - her telling off Rachel when she got her drunk, her surviving the school shooting and even when she was shot, she went out of her way to console her best friend, Brooke, and many great quotes (such as one of my favorites, "6 billion souls"). Now, since she's Peyton and receives an unfair amount of hate in the fandom, I've seen her get hate for kissing Lucas in 3x16 and for telling Brooke that she loved Lucas. As far as the school shooting episode, I think it's disgusting that people would even compare her kissing Lucas in the library vs. her kissing Lucas in Season 1. Peyton thought she was going to die. There was a gunman in the building, she was shot, and she lost a lot of blood. Lucas was overwhelmed and emotional, as well as wanting to save and protect Peyton, so the kiss was understandable in this situation. As far as her telling Brooke that she loved Lucas, she was being honest. I completely get why Brooke was hurt and upset, but Peyton was also willing to put her feelings for Lucas to the side so Brooke and Lucas could be happy. While Brooke had the right to feel upset, she had no right to retaliate by making fun of Peyton's mothers' deaths. That's just a shitty thing to do. I love Brooke to death and consider her a queen, but no one in the Brucas/Leyton love triangle was completely innocent. Season 4 This season had my favorite One Tree Hill storyline - the Psycho Derek plot. Many people thought it was unrealistic and overdramatic, but it held some truth to it - it's very easy to get tricked and lured by people online. Especially Peyton, who wanted to have some sort of family in her life and "Derek" seemed like a promising, long lost brother of her's. This plot was intense, well written, and had me on the edge of my seat. It also showed how much Peyton had grown and how strong and resilient she was. After she was attacked for the first time, she was scared to leave the house. She was paranoid, and understandably so. However, she took some self defense lessons and realized that she couldn't live in her room forever. She needed to face her fears. The scene where she stabs Derek (and was really smart, because she had convinced him that she was going to kill Brooke) and kicks him down the stairs is so badass and satisfying to watch. My brave little angel of darkness, as I like to call her. :') Also, while she definitely suffered throughout this (and every) season, she did have her happy moments. Her relationship with Lucas brought so much stability and joy to her life and she gave him the same feelings. She defended herself to Brooke, after Brooke had used her mothers' death to make fun of her and they ended up having a stronger, more complex friendship because of it. She showed that even with the bad times, good times exist. Season 5 This is the season where Peyton returns to Tree Hill after turning down Lucas' proposal. Now, do I agree with her pursuing Lucas when he was in a relationship with Lindsey? No, of course not. But Lucas shouldn't have proposed to Lindsey after kissing Peyton, so I can see why she would be confused and upset over that. Should she have been so rude and hostile towards Lindsay, who was nothing but nice to her? No, I didn't like that petty, jealous side of Peyton. But Peyton apologized, admitted that she unfairly judged Lindsey and was jealous, and made amends with her. She even let Lucas go and told him that she wanted him to be happy with all her heart. Stepping out of the Lindsey/Lucas/Peyton love triangle, because that shouldn't define Peyton, she definitely had her better moments of Season 5. She was an amazing, supportive friend of Brooke and stood up to Victoria when no one else would. She was passionate about music and wanted to change the lives of others' who were struggling by showing them these great, wonderful artists. She was a mixed bag of good and bad this season, just like every character is, but some fans only focus on the bad and she's just worth so much more than that, in my opinion. Season 6 I'm so happy that Peyton's last season was so good to her. She had pregnancy problems and there was a chance that she would die while giving birth, but she did not let that stop her from being the brave warrior she always has been. She was willing to die for her baby and she wanted to know that Lucas and her future child were going to be okay, which shows how deeply sweet, sensitive, and selfless Peyton is. She was an incredible friend to Brooke and supported her throughout her attack at the store, letting her know how fierce and capable she was. She was passionate about her music and believed in the talents of Mia and Haley. She was an amazing girlfriend (later to be wife) and mother to Sawyer. For a character that has experienced so many hardships, she has overcame all of them with great strength and integrity. She has grown from her mistakes. She is insightful, intelligent, passionate, and extremely interesting and multi dimensional. It's so inspirational that she had such a happy ending after a rough, lonely beginning - it's the type of happy ending anyone would aspire to have.